Dance Parade

Our second season of Bhangra performances just got over. It started with the holi event at net-ip followed by Consulate, Woldroff Astoria, UN and finally the dance parade today. I am quite done with Bhangra now, I think.Though I enjoyed each bit of it and made lots of wonderful friends I think its time to call it quits. It almost time for me to go back to India. I hear belly dancing is in vogue in India these days so why not I learn it here. I already did a few tango and a salsa class last week.

We were the only indian dance group in the parade. It was the second ever NYC dance parade and a beautiful sunny day. Never walked on the streets before like this in manhattan...imagine streets with no traffic no vehicle just you and your friends running dancing on the entire block. It was awesome... an experience rare and wonderful. We walked on the broadway all the way from 28th to 8th street. There were cute little restaurants on either sides and lots of people sitting out eating and watching us.

The parade ended at the John Thomkins Square park where we had a stage performance. I could not watch most performances as always. Thats the sad part of being a participant, you dont get to watch the show. The audience was wonderful and cheering us. Most people have already heard of Bhangra it seems, thanks to the SOBs and clubs like ours. I was not unusually impressed by any dance form. Indian classical dance is more scientific , graceful, intense and vigorous than any of these. All dancers looked beautiful in thier dresses and swayed elegantly all the time. All in all it was a fun day.